London has been battered by 50mph winds that have felled trees and caused travel chaos. Powerful gusts swept across the capital as the Met Office issued a yellow "be aware" weather alert for most of the country.

Ikea has withdrawn a cake sold in 23 countries after it was found to contain a type of bacteria normally found in human and animal excrement.

Nearly two tons of chocolate almond cake sold in the flat-pack furniture stores was destroyed in China after it was found to contain excessive levels of faecal coliform bacteria.

Ikea said the cakes were destroyed in November and December but the company's head office had only found out about it on Monday.

"The product was stopped and destroyed. So none of the cakes made it to our restaurants," she said.

The cake made by a Swedish supplier is sold in Ikea stores in a majority of the countries where it operates. The company is looking into whether the cake should be withdrawn from sale elsewhere.

The company insists the UK and Ireland are not affected.

Ikea said the affected batches of almond cake with chocolate and butterscotch all came from the same Swedish supplier which exports to stores across the world.

A spokesman said: "The production batches have, as per safety and quality routines, been tested for bacteria that can cause health issues, such as E.coli, and none of these pathogen bacteria have been found."

"However, since the product does not comply with our strict food quality standards we have decided to withdraw the concerned production batches from sale in the 23 affected countries.”